Twisted tornado of politics, money
fuels ‘perfect storm’ of gambling

When Arizona Senator Jon Kyl introduced the first bill to cut off funding for Internet gambling in 1995, there were some 24 web sites trying to siphon money from America’s pockets.

            But since then, notes Kyl Chief Counsel Stephen Higgins, it has grown to more than 2,000 sites with, “all the worst elements combined. It is the perfect storm of gambling.” Higgins noted, “It’s anonymous, you can do it any time of day, in the back room of your house. Kids can do it”

            Simply stated, the bill tried for 10 years to stop banks from funding illegal Internet gambling transactions. The legislation would make it illegal for banks to allow the use of credit cards or other financial instruments to place illegal wagers.

            The bill once passed the senate 90 to 10, and with huge bipartisan support and the coordination of Representative Michael Oxley (R-Ohio), it has twice passed the House by overwhelming majorities. But never, Higgins noted, has it never passed both houses in the same form.

            The Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act offered Senators Kyl (R-AZ), Shelby (R-AL), and Feinstein (D-CA).makes nothing new legal. It also makes nothing new ILLEGAL. That’s the compromise reached between legislators and a group called the “DC Working group.”  NCAGE has long supported this legislation, hoping that cutting off the supply of money would stem or stop the growth. Besides NCAGE, this group includes the NFL, the Eagle Forum, Focus on the Family and many other important family rights and tax equity organizations.

            Still, because of the corrupting political power of gambling’s big money, the bill has never passed. Gambling promoters “will dump all kinds of money on this.

Their lobbyists descend on the hill like a swarm of locusts,” Higgins said.

            The secret combinations of money and muscle are bewildering. Take, for example, the twisted irony of arch-neo-conservative Chris Cannon of Utah’s overwhelmingly Mormon 3rd district. It is only one of many, but it is among the more intriguing.

            The DC Working Group was dumfounded in 2003 when Cannon torpedoed their long-negotiated bill. Though he claimed to be vehemently anti-gamboling, Cannon was virtually unknown to group members who had been working the legislation for years. Cannon could play to both sides, claiming to support his Mormon constituents’ loathing of gambling while killing a bill that could cost the gambling industry hundreds of millions of dollars.

            The story has only recently begun to unfold while Cannon’s campaigns have been taking in tens of thousands of dollars from gambling interests.  Cannon’s chief of staff, David Safavian, has been linked to the infamous Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon and Ralph Reed scandals that bilked tens of millions of dollars from gambling tribes, sometimes supporting and sometimes helping to defeat those tribes’ interests. Whether unwitting or deliberate, Cannon's odd combination of action and inactions probably did more to spur the growth of Internet gambling than any other Congressman. Earned or not, his performance was sufficient to garner a $2,000 personal campaign contribution from Jack and Pamela Ambramoff and another $7,000 from tribes with casino interests in the past two election cycles.

            The Abramoff – Reed group apparently even used gambling money to try to defeat other legislators who supported the Kyl bill. By killing the Unlawful Internet Funding Prohibition Act, Cannon avoided the wrath of gambling’s dark consortium, earned their campaign contributions and favors, and scored political points at home all in the same move.

            As the secrets of this twisted consortium are being dragged into the light, former Cannon Chief of Staff David Safavian has been indicted along with Abramoff. Other legislators, ranging from the obscure Bob Ney of Ohio to the powerful Speaker of the House, Tom Delay, trickle into infamy almost weekly – and the scandal grows.

            But so does the Internet gambling problem. The flow of money to illegal sites continues largely unabated.

            NCAGE, the DC Working Group, Kyl and a few other legislators honest and courageous enough to brave the wrath of the gambling interests, labor on.

            The bill will be brought up again.

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More complete articles on the Abramoff / Reed / Safavian / Cannon / DeLay association:

On Chris Cannon:

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Beyond_Abramoff_Gambling_lobbyist_joined_forces_with_antigambling_congressman_derailed_gambling_0901.html

            http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,615154717,00.html

On Tom Delay: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/3398326

On David Safavian: http://federaltimes.com/index2.php?S=1130126

            http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3094847?rss

            http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091901859.html

            http://projectusa.org/ezine/enote/abramoff_marianas/safavian_cannon_history.php

On gambling money to defeat Kyl bill supporters: